“The way to get across divisions is to engage with people who are different from you…” David M. Einhorn

Late-January’s 2022 Cornell Business Forum afforded me a virtual sit-down with David M. Einhorn ’91 and three of our college’s Engaged Student Ambassadors. In addition to David’s work with Greenlight Capital, his philanthropy has been incredibly impactful. His dedication to community engagement has been deeply felt and appreciated across the Cornell. Here at the College of Business, we are deeply appreciative of the $1.5 million block grant and ongoing collaboration with Cornell’s David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement that supports our Engaged College Initiative.

Truth be told, I looked forward to asking David lots of questions about the state of play in the markets—
inflation risks, what the Fed is or is not doing, the ESG movement that is captivating the asset management business, his own investment philosophy and approaches. For some reason, however, I chose to start by asking a much more open-ended question, informed by our times: Where should we focus our attention and energy, as individuals and a community? There are so many areas that need our attention.

Not surprisingly, Einhorn responded thoughtfully. “Even before the pandemic, our society was moving in a direction of schism and division,” he started. “People were less engaged in their communities and they were less engaged in social activity. They were increasingly keeping to their own, and that’s a problem. And then this pandemic comes along…and all it did was exacerbate the problem, because it gave people all kinds of excuses to shelter themselves in place.” David was quick to add that he wasn’t judging people for fearing the virus, but he was lamenting that it had caused people to disengage further. True to his guiding philosophy, he went on. “And the less engaged you are, the greater the differences you have and the greater the divisions the society has, because the way to get across divisions is to engage with people who are different from you…I think we’re facing an enormous crisis of connection which has only gotten worse during the pandemic.” Connections and community, indeed!

At that point, I was delighted to be able to introduce our college’s Engaged Student Ambassadors, hired under the aegis of the Einhorn Center collaboration. Representing each of our three schools, Alethia Chan (Dyson ’22), Srinidhi Ranganathan (MBA ’22), and Jonathan Le (Nolan ’23) each shared a bit about what they’ve learned and experienced about community engagement over the past year. I encourage you to listen back to their testimonials. Srinidhi observed a change in her own attitude, bluntly admitting: “I see beyond immediate outcomes now.” I loved that quote. A second-year Johnson School MBA student, Srinidhi’s making a considered shift in her career focus from equity research to a leveraged finance group. Her mission now is “to work directly with companies and be involved in their financing decisions that align with ESG.” Once again, our students show us how to be the change we hope to see.

People can and do make a difference.

“Create an environment where people can and do make a difference” Charles F. Knight ’57, BME ’58, MBA ‘59

Just the day before I sat down with David, I had finished reading Chuck Knight’s 2005 book Performance Without Compromise. It tells a fascinating tale about what lies at the core of management success, with very clear thinking about what it is that a leader in management does. Knight had a profound respect for the discipline of management process, the importance of commitment to planning and robust control systems, and a crystal-clear focus and drive towards operational excellence.

Chuck’s perspective was earned from decades of dedicated work and learning from 30 years in leadership at Emerson Electric. He tells the story of Emerson’s unique approach to management as a dynamic process, one involving strategies and adaptation as the business grew steadily, year after year, with only three CEOs over a 65-year period. I think my favorite part is where he talks about the importance of creating an environment where people can and do make a difference—where people have impact. This portrayal of success as an ongoing, interactive endeavor—the people-focused nature of it, rather than the focus on a destination—is inspiring to me.

The Johnson School’s 75th anniversary commemoration this year features Chuck prominently, because he served Cornell with such energy. While an undergrad and graduate student, he undertook an impressive array of commitments (including coaching football and teaching plumbing at the Nolan Hotel School!). Throughout his demanding and legendary career, he returned as a guest lecturer and mentor to the late Professor Hal Bierman’s Lectures in Finance course, in particular. And he made significant investments in Cornell’s engineering labs, athletics, and business resources. Four generations of the Knight family have been educated at Cornell, and Chuck’s drive to make time for his family is storied. I learned about his love of Glen Lake in Michigan, just up the road from Bear Lake, where my own young family spent our summers. Family inspires. So does the 250-foot wall of sand at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.

Last week, Chuck’s family foundation announced a significant gift to the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business which named our college’s deanship in his honor. I now have the privilege of serving as the Charles Field Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. The model Chuck Knight provided to Cornellians for decades now has an even deeper meaning and shape, and I’ll keep his example of values-based leadership at the forefront of mind as I do my work.

As we think about what kind of college we want to build, I think of this gift as an affirmation of the work we’re doing in building the pre-eminent college of business. We, like Chuck, believe in people-centered leadership: we make the greatest difference when we inspire others and with innovative and broad collaboration we will realize excellence.

We’re moving forward—ever stronger together—during these transformative times in the world of business education. The past two years have challenged our resiliency and creativity. And now, as we look toward the other side of this global pandemic, it’s incumbent on each of us to work with inspiration toward a sustainable, shared prosperity for all of us. Our values-based business education embodies that ethic—and the future of business demands it.

And to quote David Einhorn one more time: “You never know when being just a little bit nice to people is going to pay a dividend.”

See you next month,
Andrew

And I couldn’t leave without mentioning:

Our new Dean of Faculty and Research, Suzanne Shu, just finished her first month on the job. I’m incredibly grateful to get to work with Suzanne Shu in this role. Her depth of experience and incisive gifts of observation serve her well as a behavioral scientist and marketing scholar. And her contributions will serve us all well as she shapes this new deanship with the intention of promoting collaboration and awareness of each other’s work. Thanks to our colleagues for welcoming Suzanne so warmly.

A New Soft Landing on New York’s Southern Tier. Senator Chuck Schumer announced last week a new collaboration between the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Binghamton University, and its Center for International Business Advancement has secured a $1.6 million Department of Commerce grant to establish a regional hub to attract foreign startups and to scale up companies. In this innovative engaged-learning opportunity for our business students, they’ll be working on projects to help bring clean energy jobs to the Southern Tier region. Stay tuned!